McLeod gets shot on Team Canada’s top line

[size=30]McLeod gets shot on Team Canada’s top line[/size]

By Mark Masters

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Mark Masters
SPORTSCENTRE Reporter
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TSN's Mark Masters is with Team Canada and has the latest as the squad plays in the world junior championship. Canada skated Thursday ahead of their game against Latvia at the Air Canada Centre.
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- Dominique Ducharme announced that Carter Hart will start tonight, but Team Canada's head coach did not go into detail when asked what went into the decision. 
- Injured in Tuesday's win over Slovakia, Mitchell Stephens (ankle) will not dress for tonight's game. Ducharme said that if it were a do-or-die game then Stephens would be able to play.
- With Stephens out, Michael McLeod will take his spot on the line with Dylan Strome and Pierre-Luc Dubois. "I actually played with Strome for four years growing up so I know how he plays and where he's going to be on the ice," McLeod said referencing their time together with the Toronto Marlboros of the GTHL. McLeod and Strome both grew up in the Lorne Park neighbourhood in Mississauga, Ont. "It's pretty cool," said Strome, "Our families are pretty close. They live like five minutes away or less. We went to the same high school and everything. It's kind of weird how it all works out. Hundreds of thousands of kids and then the two of us end up on the same world junior team." McLeod was asked if Strome has changed much since those Marlies days. "Yeah, he's better," the Mississauga Steelheads forward said. That elicited a laugh from Strome. "That sounds like an answer he'd give," Canada's captain quipped with a grin. "I think he's matured a lot. If you knew the Mikey in the old days you'd kind of laugh at what he's saying or he was always joking around, so I think he's really matured. He's the captain of his team in the OHL and that's a big accomplishment in his third year."
- When the final 22-man roster was finalized, Ducharme approached McLeod and told him he would start as the 13th forward. "I play 24 minutes [a game] back in Mississauga and coming in here and playing less than five some games, I knew that was going to be the case and I was ready for it," McLeod said. "It's just amazing to be on this team." Strome is impressed with how McLeod has handled the role. "You look at a guy like Claude Giroux who was the 13th forward on the World Cup team and look how much he plays in Philly, so obviously he accepted the role there and Mikey's trying to do the same thing here. It's not easy, but he's doing a good job. I think we really need that. He's good for a penalty kill shift here and there and now he's going to get his chance." McLeod got more minutes in the third period on Tuesday after Stephens got hurt and chipped in a goal. As a local kid who dreamed of playing in the Air Canada Centre, McLeod was asked if the reality of this experience has met his expectations. "Passed my expectations probably," he said. "Just walking out for the first game against Russia and just seeing it, it was insane."
- Before the tournament started, Ducharme approached Dubois and asked if the Blue Jackets prospect would be comfortable playing left wing. The third-overall pick in last June's draft, who played right wing and centre previously in his junior career, said he was confident he could make the transition. What's been the biggest adjustment? "Maybe just the entries are one of the toughest parts, but I played the three exhibition games and now two tournament games so I got used to it. It's not a big difference," he said. In two tournament games Dubois has no points at even strength although he has picked up a pair of nifty assists on the power play. Ducharme doesn't believe the switch in positions is a big issue. "Once the faceoff is over, we don't really have positions. It's the first forward back that goes down low and then when we get into the O-zone it's the guy closest to the puck who becomes the No. 1 and zone entries are the same," the coach explained. "It is a little bit of an adjustment, but it's about getting used to the guys you're playing with and all those little things together and that's why we're patient with our lines. We want to make sure our guys are getting more and more comfortable playing together." Ducharme said it has always been his nature to give lines as much time as possible to mesh. In the three pre-tournament games, Dubois had one assist so the production has been underwhelming so far. But Ducharme believes the chemistry between Strome and Dubois, who are rooming together at the world juniors, is coming along slowly and surely. "It's getting better and better. We see Pierre-Luc making some small plays like retrieving pucks, forcing turnovers." 
- Latvia's morning skate was scheduled for right after Canada's, so forward Martins Dzierkals decided to do some early scouting. At one point he locked eyes with his Rouyn-Noranda Huskies teammate Philippe Myers who promptly fired a puck at the glass where the Maple Leafs prospect was watching. "I was a little scared," Dzierkals said with a laugh. "I wasn't expecting that one. We had a good laugh." Dzierkals, Myers and Jeremy Lauzon all play together in the QMJHL and had a fun chat about tonight's game a few weeks ago. "This is the moment I've been waiting for," a beaming Dzierkals said. "We already talked. They said they'd hit me, I said I'd deke them and we made fun of each other a little bit."
- Mareks Mitens will get the start in goal for Latvia and is expecting a heavy workload after watching Canada fire 44 shots on net against Slovakia on Tuesday. "They dominated Slovakia. It's going to be hard for us, for me, for everybody. We'll do our best," Mitens said. "We have to work as a team. That's the most important thing and sacrifice ourselves." How much attention is the tournament getting back home? "It's a big thing in Latvia," said Mitens, who plays for the Aston Rebels in the NAHL. "They're showing it on TV and the whole country is following us so we need to get better."
* Lines at Team Canada's skate:
Dubois-Strome-McLeod
Barzal-Raddysh
Jost-Roy-Gauthier
Dubé-Cirelli-Speers
Chabot-Myers
Bean-Juulsen 
Clague-Fabbro
Lauzon 
Hart starts
Ingram 
 
Injured: Stephens
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